


Zhi Yin

by professional_bookworm



Category: Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare, Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 14:05:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5747254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/professional_bookworm/pseuds/professional_bookworm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zhi yin. Jem had told her once that it meant understanding music, and also a bond that went deeper than friendship. Jem played, and he played the years of Will's life as he had seen them.</p>
<p>And they could not be separated, because they were bound.<br/>Because their souls were joined.<br/>Because they were one, and would be forever. </p>
<p>------</p>
<p>My depictions of the scenes that Jem plays on his violin. </p>
<p>Heronstairs is the best parabatai pair ever.</p>
<p>Sorry, not sorry :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zhi Yin

_Zhi yin. Jem had told her once that it meant understanding music, and also a bond that went deeper than friendship. Jem played, and he played the years of Will's life as he had seen them._

_He played two little boys in a training room,_ _o_ _ne showing the other how to throw knives._

"I hate this!", shouted Will throwing the knife down in frustration. The blade stuck in the wood floor and quivered there.

"Well, at least you can hit the floor with no problem", said Jem, trying to hold back a smile. "You have to relax, Will."

"How am I supposed to relax when this bloody knife is intent on going anywhere except the target?"

"Here," Jem picked up the knife and positioned Will's arm correctly. "Alright, don't relax, then. Pretend your emotions are a cord, connecting the knife to the target. If they're connected, the knife can't miss."

Will scowled, but he concentrated, and threw the knife, angling his entire body towards the shot. It finally flew straight and hit the target. Not a bullseye, but definitely an improvement.

"See?", said Jem, "You can do it." He smiled at Will.

Slowly, the scowl slid from Will's face, and he smiled back.

———

_He played the ritual of parabatai; the fire and the vows and the burning runes_

Fire leapt up at the rims of the intertwined circles, but Jem and Will saw only each other. Brother Enoch stood at the edge of the flames with Charlotte. No one else had bothered to come, Henry was busy with some invention and Jessamine had refused to set foot in “that awful city”, but neither boy minded.

Together, they spoke the words of the sacred oath.

_Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God, my god. Whither thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. The Angel to so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me._

Moving as if they were one person, Jem and Will step into the space where one circle overlaps the other. They pull out their steles, and draw the rune they had each been practicing secretly, not wanting the other to know how nervous they were.

The bright fire blazed up one last time, and for a moment, nothing else in the world existed but the two newly joined parabatai.

———

_He played two young men, running through the streets of London in the dark, stopping to lean up against a wall and laugh together._

A howling wind blows through Will's hair as he sprints along the riverbank, Jem on his heels. Despite the chilling weather, Will smiles. He loves these demon hunts. A policeman rounded the corner. Glamoured, Will bolts up to him and pulls the hat off the mundane's head. The policeman swings wildly around, looking for his invisible assailant. To Will's utter surprise, Jem darts up and taps the man in his shoulder and then darts away. Jem hardly ever participates in Will's schemes.

Leaving the mundane to spin in circles and shout behind them, the parabatai break into a run. After a few minutes, Will and Jem end up in an alley near the institute. Unable to help themselves, they laugh until their sides hurt and they have to use the wall to keep them upright.

Both were pleased to see the other laugh again.

———

_He played the day in the library when he and Will had jested with Tessa about ducks_

Those mallards would be forever known as “bloodthirsty little beats”.

_———  
_

_and he played the train to Yorkshire, on which Jem had said parabatai were meant to love each other as they loved their own souls._

Jem knew that whatever Will said, whatever jokes he made, they did love each other, perhaps even more than they loved their own souls.

———

_He played that love and he played their love for Tessa and hers for them, and he played Will saying, “In your eyes, I have always found grace.”_

Will knew that Jem would die someday, but he had denied it, hoping that if he didn’t think of it it wouldn’t happen.

They needed each other more than parabatai usually did. In each other, they saw the better parts of themselves and they saw that, no matter what horrible things they did, someone would always be there.

———

_He played the too few times he had seen them since he had joined the Brotherhood- the brief meetings at the Institute; the time when Will had been bitten by a Shax demon and nearly died, and Jem had come from the Silent City and sat with him all night, risking discovery and punishment._

Tessa raised her head when she heard the door to Will’s room open. When she had seen him stumble into the institute, covered in blood, her world had stopped. She had thought, _This is it_. But it wasn’t. Will was still alive and there was still hope. Jem glided into the room with the peculiar gliding gait of the Silent Brothers.

“Jem-“ She could say no more, but simply gestured at the still figure on the bed.

Jem, Brother Zachariah, sat next to the bed. He turned his face towards Will, and Tessa thought she saw a flicker of fear and sadness, as if he really were Jem again. As if he and Will were still parabatai, just back from a hunt. They sat there while the night stretched on, sharing their worries and their grief until morning came, and Will finally moved. He blinked into the dim light, and, upon seeing the two people he loved most, gave a weak smile.

“You needn’t look so worried. You act as if I nearly died.”

“Oh, Will” Tessa embraced the shadowhunter.

Will looked up into the face of Brother Zachariah, “Jem,” He chided, mimicking Charlotte, “Should you not be tending your duties in the Silent City?” His tone was mildly scolding, but his eyes shone at the sight of his former parabatai.

_Now that your life is no longer in peril, I believe I will go. Do try to refrain from dying, Will._

Though the other brothers called Will by his full name, Jem had never called him anything but Will, and Will had never called Brother Zachariah anything but Jem. Will reached out and grasped Jem’s hand in farewell, and, even though they were no longer parabatai, it was certain that they both felt the same pain of being parted once more.

———

_And he played the birth of their first son, and the protection ceremony that had been carried out on the child in the Silent City. Will would have no other Silent Brother but Jem perform it. And Jem played the way he had covered his scarred face with his hands and turned away when he'd found out the child's name was James._

Tessa held the peacefully sleeping baby boy in her arms, comforted that the child had been well protected by the Silent Brothers and the Iron Sisters. Jem’s voice penetrated her thoughts.

_He looks quite like Will._

“So, he will be devastatingly handsome one day.”

“Oh yes”, said Tessa “Also, he could not have had a better name.”

_It must have been difficult to select the perfect name for such a child._

“Funny,” said Will, “It really didn’t take us longer than a minute.”

Tessa smiled, “His name is James. James Herondale.”

For a second, all was quiet. Jem had turned so that he was facing the wall, and they could not see his face.

“Jem, are you alright?”

_My apologies. Silent Brothers are not supposed to show human emotions, especially around others._

Tessa placed a hand on his thin shoulder, “You are not just a Silent Brother. You’re still Jem.”

Will nodded in agreement, “Our Jem.”

———

_He played of love and loss and years of silence, words unsaid and vows unspoken, and all the spaces between his heart and theirs; and when he was done, and he'd set the violin back in its box, Will's eyes were closed, but Tessa's were full of tears. Jem set down his bow, and came toward the bed, drawing back his hood, so she could see his closed eyes and his scarred face. And he had sat down beside them on the bed, and taken Will's hand, the one that Tessa was not holding, and both Will and Tessa heard Jem's voice in their minds._

_I take your hand, brother, so that you may go in peace._

———

They were connected.

The red thread of fate that joined them did not, and would not, break.

And when Jem was mortal again, when he had left the brotherhood and lived a full life, he knew he would die.

And he was not afraid.

As he lay in bed and saw Tessa’s sad, grey eyes above him one last time, he was not afraid.

As he seemed to drift endlessly through the currents of the world, he was not afraid.

Because he knew he was near the end of his long journey.

He would soon reach the only home he had known since he was a child, and the rune on his shoulder seemed to know it too, for it flared up with sudden feeling again.

“Will”, he whispered

And a voice, that was a familiar to him as his own, replied breathlessly.

“Jem”

Finally, they were together once more. And they could not be separated, because they were bound.

Because their souls were joined.

Because they were one, and would be _forever_.

**Author's Note:**

> Soooooooo this is my first fanfic, hope you guys liked it! I've been trying to make myself write something like this for ages, and finally got enough motivation to do it :D


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